SPOILER!!: Cordelia

The Gryffindor squeezed her eyes tightly closed and took a few calming deep breaths when the professor told them to. It was difficult to feel truly relaxed these days, given the situation with the mist. Relax, Cordelia. The mist probably won’t get into the classroom right now. Focus. Cordelia opened her eyes when the professor said they could. King Arthur? She had heard some of those legends before. It was the kind of stories she had liked hearing when she was little. The young Gryffindor raised her hand and waited for her turn to speak before giving her answer. ”Muggle legend has it that Merlin put a sword in a stone and that whoever could pull the sword out of the stone would be the rightful king of England. Many tried to remove the sword, but no one could pull it from the stone. Merlin brought Arthur before the sword, Arthur was able to successfully remove the sword, and he became the king of England. Some say the sword was enchanted so that only Arthur would be able to remove it. Another legend has the sword Excalibur given to Arthur by the Lady of the lake.” There were stones in front of her, so was the mystery item beneath the cloth… a sword? WERE THEY GOING TO PLAY WITH SWORDS? HOW COOL WOULD THAT BE? Cordelia raised her hand again. ”Will we be doing any reenactments of Arthurian legends today to connect to this period of history? Like, with swords and all that?” She wanted to try swinging a sword around. Maybe this class wasn’t so boring after all.

Oh how clever this one was. She'd guessed right away what today's activity would be about. Alice gave her a small smile. "You're quite right on both counts. For today's lesson, we will be focusing on both versions of the story - the one where Arthur pulls Excalibur from the stone, and the one where the Lady of the Lake presents him with it." And they would be doing more than merely discussing it.

SPOILER!!: Tina

History of Magic was one of the rare classes where Tina liked both the subject and the professor who taught it. Normally, that was enough to make her look forward to the lessons, but lately, she couldn’t look forward to anything… except going home. She longed for France more and more with each passing moment, so much so that she’d started literally marking off the days until the end of the term when she could finally get out of this madhouse! But… what if the mist was still around at the end of the term? What if she stayed trapped at Hogwarts forever? Tina was so distracted that she'd almost forgotten to say hello to Professor O'Hara upon her arrival and hastily mumbled a greeting. Sorry, Professor! Nothing personal, she just… had a lot on her mind.

She eyed the stones and table covering on her desk with only a fraction of her usual curiosity. She couldn't even begin to guess what they were doing there, but at least in this class, she could trust that whatever their purpose, it wouldn't be anything too chaotic. Hmm… maybe a nice, calm History of Magic lesson was just the thing she needed to take her mind off her worries. Tina tried to focus her attention on the professor as the lesson began… in a very unexpected way. She blinked at the professor's odd request. Honestly, she didn't think this exercise would help her focus, but it wasn't worth debating. *She closed her eyes as instructed, trying to block out her ominous thoughts and pay attention to the task at hand. To her surprise, she did feel a little bit better when it was over.

Okay, so apparently they were talking about King Arthur today. Suddenly the stones on the desks made a lot more sense, and Tina's thoughts immediately went to Excalibur. Did that mean there was a miniature version of the sword in the stone under the white table covering? That was the only thing she could think would be there! Before she could raise her hand to speak, that little Gryffindor girl (Cordelia) beat her to it. Tina was 99% sure Excalibur was the answer O'Hara was looking for, but there was nothing she could think of to add to that answer. Even if there was, she wouldn't. She preferred to come up with her own answer rather than jump off of someone else's.

She searched her knowledge of Arthurian legend. and the next thing that came to mind was the Round Table. Her hand went up, and she said when called on, "King Arthur had a Round Table around which he and his knights would gather - so designed to symbolize that all who sat there had equal status." To be honest, Tina felt Hogwarts should adopt the same concept. Better than this broken hierarchy where the loud and aggressive were rewarded and the hard-working and honorable ignored! "There is some debate about the table's origin. Some versions of the legend say Arthur himself created the table; others say it was designed by Merlin for King Uther, Arthur's father, and Arthur inherited it later. One legend also states that the Round Table seated twelve people with a thirteenth seat called the Siege Perilous left empty to symbolize a certain famous betrayal. It's said that only the knight destined for success in the quest for the Grail could safely sit in the Siege Perilous."

Tina couldn't help but feel a little sheepish as she finished speaking. That answer was… a lot longer than intended! Sorry, people! She really wasn't trying to be a know-it-all; she just got a bit overeager because the connotations of equal standing and betrayal struck a chord with her.

Now Tina was a student who always seemed prepared for Alice's questions. Her answers were always thoughtful and often addressed topics within the larger topic that most other students (and even some professors) would not have thought to mention or even know. Today was no exception, with her mentioning the round table and what the number could symbolize in certain contexts. Alice nodded with approval. "I am surprised that any of my students would know about Seife Perilous. Two points to Ravenclaw."

SPOILER!!: Ben

Ben was certainly not expecting the lesson to begin with just sitting quietly and relaxing, but he wasn't opposed to it either. Silence was always appreciated. So he closed his eyes, though he wasn't sure he could actually relax. There was just so much running through his head all the time, and it didn't stop when his eyes closed. Still, he tried, though he was a little bit relieved when the professor gave them permission to stop, and then the lesson began.

His quill was back in his hand, ready to write his notes. King Arthur and the legends about him was going to be a topic for this lesson? Intriguing. It was certainly not a subject he was well-versed in, but he was of course familiar with the most famous aspects.

He carefully scribbled down a few notes from what a couple of other students had said, and, since it was relatively quiet, his free hand rose to offer an answer of his own. "According to some of the legends, King Arthur was betrayed by his wife Guinevere and his friend Lancelot. The exact circumstances and consequences of that betrayal sometimes vary depending on the legend, though I believe the most common one leads to the downfall of the kingdom."

She was expecting at least one of the students to mention this part of the story, which was the part most favored in dramatic retellings in both the witch and muggle versions. "That's correct. Most versions of the tales of King Arthur end on a rather tragic note and they almost universally include this betrayal from the two people closest to King Arthur: his wife Guinevere and his best friend Lancelot."

SPOILER!!: Patrick

He nodded his head as he was told he needed to relax. That was a bit hard but he figured the worst that happened he was still stressed after trying to relax. closing his eyes he began to picture the rolling fields of Kentucky, his grandparents farm, and nope there it was fog--mist--whatever you wanted to call it. He squeezed his eyes tighter. Next thing he knew it was just the farm and he felt slightly better than he had felt.

Listening to Professor O'Hara's question he was ready to answer it. "Well what intrigues me about the legend is just that, most people argue over if it was actually true or not. In the muggle world people make movies, and modern culture about King Arthur. Yet, no one actually believes that King Arthur was a thing he's just some urban legend to them. Kind of funny that they argue over it so intensely." he had to try and find the humor in something because he sure wasn't finding it here at Hogwarts.

Alice gave a small nod. "Indeed. To most Muggles, King Arthur was only ever a legend. Even the ones who believe in him tend to believe that most of the stories are false - believing in only a version of King Arthur that excludes any magical element. It's the same attitude that has them believing Bigfoot to be merely a myth, despite how many hundreds of sightings occur every year." MACUSA and the Canadian government weren't doing that good hiding those creatures, if you asked her.

SPOILER!!: Daisy

After Daisy had performed the meditative ritual, she began to focus on thinking about the question that Professor O'Hara had just asked and soon she raised her hand to answer as best as she could.

"A very prominent figure in Arthurian legend is Morgan le Fay, also known as Morgana. In most stories, she is King Arthur's older half-sister through either his mother Igraine or his father Uther, depending on the story. Sometimes, she is the ruler of Avalon and was there when King Arthur died. Morgan has a rivalry with King Arthur due to the fact that she firmly believes that she is the rightful heir to Camelot's throne. She is a very powerful sorceress with shape-shifting and healing abilities."

"Yes, and Morgana is often cast as the antagonist in King Arthur legends - along with Mordred, a sometimes-former knight of the round table and Arthur's nephew. Her goal was to rule the kingdom. I sometimes wonder what her policies would have been. Probably imperialistic, but we can never know, as the legends don't go into much detail there."


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The fact that everyone knew the story of King Arthur made her, again, proud. Her students were well informed young citizens. After they had all spoken, she raised her hand for silence and then summarized the King Arthur story herself.

"Arthur ruled what is today known as Britain (our home) during the fifth century. He is thought to have led Britain in the defense against Saxon invaders, though most Muggles today believe that everything about Arthur was a myth. We know better. The Dark witch Morgan le Fay was his half-sister, but his parentage is unknown, as is whether he was a Muggle or not. I would theorize that yes, he was a Muggle, but it is up to interpretation. While he wielded a magical sword, there is no instance in either our versions or the Muggle versions of this man performing magic. Still, it is possible that he did it in private or that he did it and it was never transmitted into the legends." Or that he was just terrible at performing magic, such as herself. Just thinking that made her mentally cringe. She was going to have to get better.

"The great wizard Merlin was a key member of the Court of King Arthur. The Knights of the Round Table were also an important part of the Court, and included Sir Lancelot, Sir Bedivere and Sir Percivale. Wizards and witches commonly hold that this order included a wizard, our very own Sir Cadogan, who got the position by being a friend of Merlin. Tellings of the story of King Arthur differed between the Muggle and wizarding worlds, in that Sir Cadogan was included in wizarding versions, but absent in Muggle ones. All tellings (both magical and Muggle) express an optimism that one day King Arthur will return - when Britain needs him the most."

Alice stood from her seat for no other reason than her legs felt tired sitting still for so long. She'd sit back down in a minute. "Now, please ignore the rocks on your left, and gently remove the white cloth on your right." She waited until they did so. Underneath this cloth was a miniature sword in the stone. The stone was about two feet long and one foot wide, with a cute little sword (more like a dagger) with a golden hilt sticking out of it. Diamonds and rubies were fastened to this golden hilt. It was goblin's gold, with goblin magic infused into it - as indeed the magic was infused throughout the stones.

"These swords are supposed to represent Excalibur, the legendary sword which only King Arthur could pull from the sword. Only his worthiness to be king allowed him to break the enchantment hanging over the stone. For the first part of our activity, I would like you to try think of a way o get that sword out of the stone. You can try to do so physically, or through magic. You can even ask me permission to use your wand to summon an object in the castle if you think it will help you unloosen the sword."

She smiled. "You may begin."

ooc: You can do this in one longer post or in two shorter or medium sized ones. Don't roleplay whether or not your student succeeded in pulling the sword - only their idea and attempt. This is only part one of the activity.